I drive from Folly Beach to Charleston frequently via Folly Road and SC 30. It’s great to see that there is much less fast-food trash than 10 years ago. But there is still lots of trash: buckets, large bags of recycled bottles, plywood, sheetrock, bales of pine straw, 2 x 4s, towels, bathing suits, beach toys, flattened corrugated cardboard, beach chairs, ladders, yard rubbish, etc. This is not stuff that people toss out of car windows. It is improperly secured stuff that blows out of the backs of pickups, open trailers, bulk haulers, and trash trucks. Truck drivers seem not to realize that at 45 mph there is a gale blowing across their load, and at 65 mph the load is experiencing near hurricane force winds. If not secured, the load is going to litter the roadway. PalmettoPride has done a pretty good job of reducing litter tossed from car windows. An effort is needed to get pickup drivers, trash truck drivers, landscaping workers, construction workers and bulk haulers to cover their loads securely. Assigning an officer to the on-ramps of eastbound SC 30 for a few days to enforce covering loads would educate the worst offenders.
Occasionally we get an idea via email – and here is one for you to ponder!
Close King Street to vehicular traffic from Neck area down to Broad Street. Install an electronic trolley system to move people and get cars off King Street. Create a large parking transportation depot in neck area for folks to park cars and take the trolleys into downtown.
Plays right into our European flavor…
Thanks for this idea that we received via email:
CARTA does not go to certain locations for lack of ridership, parking, or spaces to pull up buses. Smaller commuter buses (like the ones used by the VA) are a possibility, but targeted express routes could also be expanded. Routes could be strategically planned using information available from large employers.
For instance, MUSC parking has information on when employees scan in and scan out of the parking garages and have additional information on their address. This information can be used to calculate starting place of daily commutes and determine where areas of higher ridership for CARTA might be. MUSC and C of C have info-matics folks who can also do GIS analysis to help implement a strategy to encourage use of public transportation. Targeted surveys could then be sent out to employees in those areas (from the employer – again so as not to violate privacy agreements).
Of course, this would have to be done with an honest broker so that sensitive information would not leave the entity (the employer) and violate privacy agreements.
We are sharing this idea that was received via email. Our contributor was inspired by this article from Science Daily: “Most effective individual steps to tackled climate change aren’t being discussed” –
I would promote electric buses and aerial trams like those introduced in La Paz and Mexico City. Widening I-26 and extending I-526 simply promote auto use (an unfettered 20th century business excess that led to the 21st century problems of urban sprawl and climate change). Build bikeways and sidewalks. Additional taxes and fees on electric and hybrid vehicles are stupid; gas & diesel guzzling SUVs, pick-up, vans, & trucks should pay higher costs for their greater damage to the environment. As in Mexico City, ban driving cars with tags ending in 1 on Mondays, 2 on Tuesdays, or some such scheme to substantially reduce commuter traffic and to [establish] carpooling and working from home [as flexible alternatives].
You have a one of a kind esteem and point of view on life and that makes you characteristically delightful and stunning. Nobody else in the universe resembles you. You are exceptional. Bring your actual, real self to each circumstance, and you may think that its exactly what was required. Validness makes larger amounts of strengthening, innovativeness, and general prosperity — an extraordinary place to be when helping other people.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -Howard Thurman
Identify ways you can begin to align your thoughts with your actions, increasing your authenticity. Make a list and work to create greater harmony between the two.
Regards
Eva
The things that I would do in the event that I were leader would be first to make seven days where individuals from the city can go in gatherings and help make Beaverton greener. Second, I would have some days where we offer nourishment to the destitute or individuals who require it and can’t manage the cost of it, lastly I would have a challenge and the champ gets the opportunity to be leader for a day. One thing I would do is have days consistently where we come together as a city to help tidy up Beaverton. Around 2 days each other month individuals will get the chance to pick in the event that they need to tell the truth up Beaverton, we may close down the avenues (presumably on a end of the week) and tidy up all the garbage.We could likewise make a workmanship extend out of the stuff we found. I feel like this venture will offer assistance
children and grown-ups discover that it can be fun and that anybody can make a contrast on the planet. Second, in the event that I were chairman I would have some days consistently where we offer dinners to individuals who require it the most. I for the most part do this in Portland however its exclusive on vacations which are Christmas and Thanks giving. I need to make this accessible two times each month for families in require. When you do this venture the general population from the two sides of the nourishment, the general population conveying and accepting will profit by this since the general population accepting will be super cheerful and appreciative, and the individuals giving will understand that giving is more noteworthy than accepting and it will bring the entire city nearer together.At last, I would have a craftsmanship or composing challenge, where the champ gets the opportunity to be leader for a day or gets the opportunity to eat with the leader. The present leader would visit the champ around and demonstrate to them what he/she would accomplish for a day and they may go have lunch. The protest of this thought is to demonstrate kids that one seemingly insignificant detail can change the world and anyone can have any kind of effect on the planet city, or, on the other hand their group, it will likewise indicate how hard the chairman functions and the children will figure out how to be a government official. All things considered, I’d get a kick out of the chance to do these things as leader since I would ideally have any kind of effect on the city and the general population living in it. Something I would do is make a day were the city goes out also, reuse. Furthermore, I would have days where we provide for individuals who require nourishment, lastly I would hold a challenge where kids get to contend to be chairman for one day. I feel that it is essential to appear everyone in the city and show them that giving and nurturing this astonishing world we live in is the a standout among-st other things you can do as a human being.
Regards
Eva
We received notice from Lawrence, who follows If You Were Mayor from Folly Beach, about exciting developments in the technology for electric buses. He indicates in his email that: These buses [from Proterra] are manufactured in Greenville, SC, as well as on the west coast. The company is now working with U Nevada Reno to make them autonomous, according to [a friend in Reno]. Seneca/Clemson Transit has a fleet (see testimonial on website). Charleston should be looking into going electric and buying ‘made in South Carolina’.”
if i were mayor i would make to town a better place to live by making a safe place for kids to play
Charleston area traffic is getting worse every day. This area badly needs mass transportation. Since we are at sea level, subways will not work. For myriad reasons, the bus system is so limited that it is not effective. A monorail was studied years ago, but never got off the ground. I have read hat the cost of building an aerial gondola comes in at between $3 million and $12 million per mile, versus $36 million per mile for light rail systems. For one example, I think the distance between the airport and downtown Charleston s about 12 miles. An aerial gondola might entice some tourists not to bring cars downtown. The route could be broken up by stops near the affordable neighborhoods surrounding Park Circle (about 9 miles from downtown and about 5 miles from the airport). We need ways to get to the beaches without clogging the streets with cars. It is about 12 miles from downtown to Folly Beach by car, but less “as the crow flies.” Check out TheGondolaProject.com to read about cities all over the world that have built aerial gondolas.
Safe crossing of water bodies is often a stumbling block for trail planners. SC DOT is getting an infusion of cash in the next budget, and is to spend a bunch on repairing and replacing bridges in upcoming years. Biking and hiking trail organizations need to organize to claim key old bridges in the state that are being abandoned. We lost out on the old Folly Creek and Folly River bridges—both were demolished. My suggestion that they be kept for bikes and pedestrians was treated with amusement by officials. They could have dovetailed with the marsh-crossing-boardwalk suggested by the Rethink Folly Road consultants. No one wanted the liability of taking these bridges. Yet throughout Europe tourists flock to hike, bike, and shop on old bridges like Charles Bridge (Prague), Iron Bridge (Shropshire), and many Roman bridges.
Another alternative: Acquire an old bridge, often free.
Use one lane for bikes and pedestrians. Allow entrepreneurs to set up in the other lane (west-side market?); charge them rent to defray bridge maintenance.
Another alternative: Build a new light-duty bridge for bikes and pedestrians. In our state, Greenville demolished a 6-lane highway bridge over the Reedy River and replaced it with a modern light-duty suspension bridge for pedestrians to view the falls.
A boon for tourism! In order to clear the Ashley channel, a bike suspension bridge could be steeper than a vehicular bridge.
Having given up bicycle riding at 77 and almost never driving over the US 17 bridges, I don’t have a dog in that fight. I do strongly agree that a safe bike crossing of the Ashley is a top priority. I did make a suggestion for a less costly bicycle crossing of the Ashley in a letter to the Post & Courier published on 5 Oct 2015. I was told that ferrying across the channel is too unconventional. However, it seems unreasonable to me to take a bridge lane built to accommodate oversized loads and 18-wheelers and convert it at great expense to use for light loads like bicycles and pedestrians. Boardwalk construction for light duty use like walking and biking would be far less expensive. Consider elevating the boardwalk enough near the channel to accommodate passage of small boats, and have a floating section in the channel that could be hauled aside (infrequently) whenever the two Ashley River US 17 bridges are being opened for large boats. Sunset Beach used to be accessed by a one-lane floating bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway (tidal); it was towed to the side for yachts and barges to pass. And Fripp Island has a boardwalk/bikeway across marsh, with an elevated section over a creek; Hunting Island also. Methinks not enough thought has been given to alternatives for the Ashley crossing. It would be far safer for bikers if the crossing were tied to the West Ashley Greenway, not US 17. Or further up the Ashley, the West Ashley Bikeway could be connected to Grove Street by a boardwalk with an elevated section for small boats or a floating swing section for larger boats.
I would make a bike lane that connected James Island to the Peninsula, similar to the way Mt. Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island are connected to the Peninsula.
The Ravenel Bridge should be renamed to honor the nine lives lost on June 17th.
Last week’s Ravenel Bridge closing brought into stark relief the transportation problems in the Charleston metro area. The usual traffic congestion hassles turned into chaos with the closing of just one artery into the peninsula, and the pain was not limited to the Mt. Pleasant corridor. Traffic volume will only increase, with expansion at Boeing, the large-scale Volvo project, planned residential projects in Mt Pleasant, Daniel Island and West Ashley, and continued tourist development. We need serious mass transit solutions which do not rely on the roadways and bridges. Our leadership must reach out to state and federal governments, as well as major industrial partners like Boeing and Volvo, to study a mass transportation system which links North Charleston, West Ashley, James/Johns Island and Mt Pleasant/Daniel Island with Peninsular Charleston to reduce our vulnerability to our over-taxed roads and bridges. It would be a mistake to dismiss the idea of non-road based mass transportation as too expensive without serious study of the issue. Population and traffic will continue to multiply here, whether we plan for it or not!
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